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Insulating Basement Walls

870 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  tsandtsand

I have questions and concerns. I live in a 5 year old home in Canada and I am about to finish my basement. It is insulated and has a 6mil vapour barrier. I am concerned as I recently noticed that my builder only used 2x3 studs against my basement walls. The studs are an inch away from the wall, and then it is insulated with 2x3 batts of R12 insulation. I have been researching online what to do for the best insulation prior to finishing my basement. I have seen that it is a good idea to have vapour barrier behind the stud wall but I have also read bad things about this. Other sites have suggested getting spray foam. I had two estimators at my home. One suggested I get 2-3" spray foam and leave my 2x3, and throw out the batts and vapour barrier. Another estimator said I should get 2" spray foam (obviously only 1" behind the wall studs) and then reuse my batts and put a vapour barrier back on, after adding 2x2's to the existing 2x3's. Very expensive. Any ideas on what I should do? I want to make sure I am well insulated without spending a lot of wasted money on things I don't necessarily need. When I cut a whole in the vapour barrier I did have a bit of ice on the concrete wall, as is normal in Canada. But it is 1" away from the insulation which is good.  Not sure what method to choose?  What do do? Any suggestions? 
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The spray foam (although the most expensive) is the best course for insulation and vapor barrier.  The bats would only be used in that application for sound deadening purposes.  However, given the shallow depth of your studs, spray foam is likely the best utilization.

 

I am not 100% on local building codes for your area, but it is my impression that the builder has to insulate the basement walls and put in vapor barrier at least 3 feet down from the upper level to meet MINIMUM code.  Minimum code is just the bare bottom of what you want.
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